


an ode to the times | a book of shorts for the dream smp

by simpingonthedaily



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Dream Team SMP Spoilers, L'Manberg War of Independence on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP Spoilers (Video Blogging RPF), Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Pre-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), poem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simpingonthedaily/pseuds/simpingonthedaily
Summary: these will probably be all one shots. the book will have song fics (almost all of my writing is inspired by music), poems, and short ideas that i can't write full out for whatever reason. there will be NO direct shipping, certainly nothing with minors, and nothing that any CC has said they are uncomfortable with. if you have any questions or concerns let me know (if anyone sees this at all in the first place) :D





	1. i think | ghostbur

i think i’m sad.  
i really don’t know what that feels like   
but i think that’s what this is.

i feel cold.   
i don’t understand the difference between warmth and chill  
but i think these shivers are cold.

and i think i’m dead.  
i have no memory of being alive in this world  
but i don’t think i am.

i think i was bad  
they all pity me and look at me like a bomb about to explode  
but i don’t think that is who i am.

i think i was someone.  
it seems like i was loud, and everywhere, they say it’s quiet without the old me  
but i think it’s good that i was someone.

i think i was wilbur.   
i was lively, i was warm, i felt alive, i was good, i was a brother, a son, a friend,   
but i wasn’t always like that.

i think i went crazy.  
i have these flashbacks of fire, blood, booms, chaos, passion  
but i think i went insane.

now i’m just ghostbur.  
the empty shell of the boy who was once something great,  
but that’s not the me they remember, stuffed in the empty shell of a glass they named ghostbur.  
i was something i didn’t understand,  
i think.


	2. as the world caves in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And dad?"  
> "Wil?"  
> "I think he had a point."  
> "Wilbur!"  
> "It was never meant to be." 
> 
> WARNINGS: CHARACTER DEATH, STABBING, EXPLOSIONS  
> based on the song "as the world caves in" by matt maltese

My feet are aching, and your back is pretty tired;

Wilbur stood in his stone box of madness, a physical model of the insanity the war had brought him. He was tired, oh my god he was so tired. He knew the others were too, but they were too stubborn to know when a good thing had gone bad. Expired, burnt, dead. 

And we've drunk a couple bottles babe, and set our grief aside.

Why had it happened like this? They were fighting! They were winning! But Schlatt just.. died? He just passed out, gone. Quicker than Wilbur blinked. You could say, quicker than a button. There HAD to be more than this! How could Dream just take control, like this?  
How, he didn't know. But in his despair, he started to hum a little tune and laugh.

"The papers say it's doomsday, the button has been pressed." The oldest brother stood in thought. His family- this would be a whole knew bucket of worms for them, but they'd get over it. Tommy would be incredibly angry for a bit, and then calm down and see the bigger picture. Technoblade.. well he'd understand. He was an agent of chaos after all, he'd do the same thing. And finally, Phil. Oh, Philza. He was a father, a grown man, he would be okay. He'd feel many things: angry, hurt, confused, but in the end he would make his peace with what his son did. They all would! With time, everyone would see that Wilbur's madness let him see the potential they had, the stupidity of letting someone else poison what L'manburg once was. He turned with a swift twist on his heel, and walked to the iron door he'd placed oh so long ago. Peering out the holes, he saw chaos. He saw Tommy and Tubbo, Niki, Techno, Sapnap, Karl, Dream, Quackity, Eret, Punz, Alyssa, Fundy... Fundy. His son. His pride and joy. Fundy may be his son, but Wilbur was not his dad. Father, maybe. But he wasn't a dad, really, not anymore. Old Wilbur was, fresh with the fire of a revolution! But this Wilbur, no. He'd seen too much, promised Fundy too much, there was no going back to being a dad. "We're gonna nuke each other up boys, 'til old satan stands impressed." 

"And here it is, our final night alive". The general continued his song, only now diverting his gaze from the heavy door to the opposingly thin, wooden, button. "And as the earth runs to the ground.."

"Wil?"

Oh girl it's you, that i lie with.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" No, he wasn't supposed to be here. Hell, he wasn't even supposed to be in the server yet. There was no reason for him to be here, not in the server, not in his little room of madness. Why was he here?

As the atom bomb locks in.

"Wil, this isn't right. Do you see those people out there? They're fighting! For you! They're fighting for you! For L'manburg! For your country!" Wilbur backed up slowly towards the button, passing the signs etched with charcoal covering his sanctuary of independence. The signs... they once stood as a promise, but now they seemed more like a threat. 

"But for what Phil? For someone else to just come and ruin it? They're so naive! A war won't fix anything! Independence won't fix anything! Nothing will fix this! I have a plan Phil, a marvelous plan." Wilbur smiled, and with painful laughter, a glint of hellish excitement gleamed from his eyes. "A plan so great, it will serve as a lasting reminder of what I now stand for. A villain? sure! But an enlightened one."

Oh it's you, I watch TV with. 

"Oh and what is that?" Phil stood in dismay. Wilbur wondered, what was he thinking? His oldest son, his pride and joy, his general, standing in a little stone room with some stupid little signs and a stupid little button? How times have changed.

"I'm going to let it blow. Boom. 11 stacks of TNT are layered under the streets, under the homes, under that stupid podium," Wilbur spit with venom on that last one. "in the water, in the sands, in the trees. Don't you see, Phil? This isn't what I wanted! My country was supposed to be a place for us! A place where everyone was welcome, a reason for our hard work! The war took that from us, there is no reason to believe in a L'manburg that isn't what it could be. That isn't what it should be."

Wilbur turned back towards the button, stopping dead center in front. In a painful silence, he continued his little song. It was broken, some of the notes a little flat or a little short, or separated by breaths to fuel his own tears. "As the world," Was this the right thing? It had to be. There was no turning back now. "as the world caves in." 

"You put your final suit on, I paint my fingernails..." Phil knew the song then, damn. That was going to make this so much harder. I mean, of course he knew the song! Wilbur made it, sang it to him with excitement. 

**FLASHBACK**  
"Dad, dad! I wrote a song!"  
"Alright Wil, let me hear it. Boys, can you come listen to your brother's song?"  
"ANOTHER ONE?"  
"Sure!"  
He'd been answered with a few "nice jobs!" or "sexy cords my man" (thanks to Tommy) and even a comment from his dad after. "You read wayyy to many apocalypse novels."  
**END OF FLASHBACK***

Huh, apocalypse novels. How fitting. 

"Oh we're going out in style babe, and everything's on sale!" Wilbur threw his arms out, as if he was Jesus. Dying for the good of the others, even though they didn't see why yet. He laughed to himself, because he guesses that this makes him a god.  
Phil stared at him, looking taken aback. What could he say? How could he talk a delusional son off of blowing up a nation?  
Both Wilbur and Phil knew, he couldn't. Once he was set on something, by god was he set. 

We creep up on extinction, I pull your arms right in. 

"I've been here before, Phil, did you know that?" No, he didn't. "You have?" "Well yes, many times. And each time, I sit here, staring at this STUPID button, wondering why I shouldn't press it. And everytime, every single time," Wilbur dropped his head, shaking at his own thoughts, "Tommy was the one to stop me. He marched up here with Tubbo and used his own body to barricade me from the button. That's why I need to do it now, he's fighting. He's fighting a lost cause, but fighting none the less. I needed him distracted, because I can't have any distractions. Phil, you're a distraction. I don't think that you understand that I have to do this, I have to. There is no other way."

Wilbur was still staring at the button. "I know." THAT made him flip around. Phil was in his normal fit, the green clothes and all. The only thing missing were his elytra, no doubt Dream made him loose them on his way in. There was no swooping in and saving his sons from this one, hypothetically or realistically.  
"You do?"  
"I know. But think about it before you do it. Think about each one of your friends, each little part of your family out there, and keep thinking about it!"

I weep and say goodnight love, while my organs pack it in.

"No, i'm doing it." Wilbur's shoulders dropped in a hunch as his head turned to look at the button, body now sideways. It's like he was stuck between his father, his family, his country, and his button, his welcomed madness. "Did you know that a while back, when we first revolted, we had a traitor?" Phil responded with another question, a repeated habit Wilbur had noticed all of his life. "Oh, did you?" "Yeah, their name was, is, Eret. He had a phrase y'know? Right before he hit a little button of his own, he said his phrase. Now, it's even in the song, fuck Eret, but i'm starting to see that maybe, just maybe, he had the right idea!" "What do you mean, Wil?" "Well, he pulled us all into this little obsidian room, filled with chests for each of us. But they were empty! So we turned to him, having no idea that he was with the dream team, and asked, y'know, what's up? We're in the middle of a revolution right now, why are you showing us empty chests?" "Ahuh?" "So, Eret turned away from us, walked over to a liiiiittle button in the center of the room and proudly said, no, ANNOUNCED, it was never meant to be." 

And here it is, our final night alive, and as the earth runs to the ground...

"And dad?"  
"Wil?"  
"I think he had a point."  
"Wilbur!"  
"It was never meant to be." 

click. 

Oh girl it's you that I lie with  
As the atom bomb locks in  
Oh it's you I watch TV with  
As the world, as the world caves

It was a small sound, unheard to those who were still occupied with their fighting outside, but loud as a bell due to the bubbling, voluminous silence that filled the air in the stone room. The button rang out like a gunshot to Wilbur and Phil.

boom. 

Explosions filled the air, ringing their ears. The fighters stood in shock, both sides. Some were angry, and some were just plain starstruck. Phil dove for his eldest son as the outer edge of the room was blown clean off, along with the rest of their city. Fire was everywhere: leaking lakes and empty pits.  
As empty as me, Wilbur thought. Funny how that works. 

As the booms and bangs slowed down, Wilbur stood up, his father following slowly behind him. The boy now leading, he faced the open wall to L'manburg, in awe at his plan. He did it. He did it. He did it. He did it. He did it.  
And that's when he heard them.  
He heard Tommy's angry yells, Techno's sigh, Niki's tears, Tubbo's disbelief, Dream's laughter, Fundy's terror. Even worse, the next thing to come was the eye contact.  
They all turned to the now open mountain, seeing Phil and Wilbur standing there.  
Wilbur was in shock.  
Now what?  
He'd accounted for everything, EVERYTHING, except for how they'd react to him. Sure, after they understood why and moved on, yeah. But not in the moment. 

That's when he faced Phil. 

Oh it's you that I lie with, as the atom bomb locks in.

"Kill me Phil." Wilbur was ready. He sounded tired, but he sounded... excited? Thrilled? "W- What?" Phil let out a gasp, a sigh, or a sob. WIlbur wasn't sure which. His ears were still ringing. "Stab me! Murder me! Kill me Phil, Please! This is my unfinished symphony! FOREVER UNFINISHED! There is no reason for me to stay here Phil, it's done!"  
Wilbur laughed through his sobs, dropping to his knees in front of his father. His dad.  
Phil slowly looked up at the ceiling, now littered with sharp lines and jagged edges from flying debris, and took a breathe.  
"Just so you know, you'll always be my son. Even as the world caves in. Goodbye, Wil."

Yes it's you I welcome death with...

The diamond sword slid into Wilbur's body, and that was that. Nobody made a sound. How could they? 

As the world, as the world caves in.

Wilbur was dead, L'manburg was absolutely blown to bits, Phil was just forced to kill his son. 

As the world caves in.

**Author's Note:**

> hey :) meant to be said out loud like a spoken word! with a beat and rhythm.


End file.
